Let Them Be For Signs and For Seasons (Part 2)

In my previous post, I referred to David Dolan’s article about the rapture possibly occurring on April 14, 2014.  If you believe there will be a seven-year tribulation period following the rapture, that would bring us to the year 2021 for the possible return of Christ Jesus for the battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19:11).  This period on the prophetic timeline is known as The Lord’s Day or the Day of the Lord.

Joel 3:15 tells us:

For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. ¹⁵The sun and moon will be darkened,
 and the stars no longer shine. ¹⁶The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. (emphasis mine)

There will be only one total solar eclipse in 2021, which will occur on December 4.  What’s unusual about this eclipse is that it will move from the east to the west.  Psalm 103:12 tells us:

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

The east is significant in Scripture in that the entrance to the tabernacle faces east.  Ezekiel 43:2 also tells us:

And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.

December 4, 2021 occurs during Chanukah (or Hanukkah), which begins on November 29, 2021.  Chanukah is the eight-day festival of light that celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, of purity over adulteration, and spirituality over materiality, according to Chabad.org.  It also commemorates the rededication of the second Holy Temple in Jerusalem following the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century B.C.E.

In his "Gospel of the Stars" study, the late J.R. Church writes that Virgo points to the first coming of Jesus Christ and Leo to His second advent.  During the solar eclipse of December 4, 2021, the sun will be in the constellation Ophiuchus, which is depicted as a man grasping a serpent.  We know Satan appeared to Eve as a serpent in the Garden of Eden.  The Greek poet Aratus describes Ophiuchus as trampling on Scorpio with his feet.  But I am not convinced that this celestial event is related to the coming of our Lord.

I also looked ahead to the dates of the other two lunar eclipses in the tetrad that will occur on the Jewish feasts of Passover and Tabernacles in 2015, but there will not be any total solar eclipses in 2022.

I still think that the total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017 may have some significance.  Could that be a possible date for the rapture?  Unlike the Day of Lord, Scripture does not provide any celestial clues about the rapture.  Fast-forward seven years and there will be a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.  It is interesting that the path of this eclipse crosses the path of the prior total solar eclipse on August 21, 2017.  The sun, however, will be in Pisces, and not Leo.

What about the book of Joel’s reference to the stars no longer shining? Unlike the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, Regulus will not be covered by the moon.  Unfortunately, the stargazing software I am using is limited and does not reveal whether other stars will — or will not — be visible on April 8, 2024.

For now, we will have to continue to look up with eager anticipation and wait and see.

Let Them Be For Signs and For Seasons (Part 1)

Last summer, I watched a beautiful documentary about the Star of Bethlehem, which was presented by Frederick A. Larson.

Using stargazing software, Larson was able to prove that Christ’s star, which is described in the Book of Matthew, correctly correlates with celestial events that occurred in 2 and 3 B.C.  He also connects the darkness that occurred the moment Christ died on the cross to another celestial event.  You can learn more by visiting his website. 

After watching the film, I wondered why did Larson stop at the cross?  I quickly downloaded some stargazing apps and went to Scripture to see if I could find any astrological clues that could shed some light on the season that Christ Jesus might return.

Let me state right now that the purpose of this study is not to claim to know the date that Christ will return.  In fact, I was hesitant to broach this topic because no one knows when our Lord will return as King except the Father.  Scripture also strongly warns against divination and sorcery.  Then I read a wonderful study by the late J.R. Church about how the messages of the constellations were meant to foretell the first and second advents of our Lord and God’s plan for redemption; not to be used for divination about man, which does constitute sin and idolatry. 

I discovered that from the start, Scripture tells us how we are to use the stars:

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years (Genesis 1:14, emphasis mine)

In Matthew 16:2-3, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and the Sadducees when they asked for a sign from heaven, because He knew full well that they should have been able to know the season of His first advent:

When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. 3And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?

This gave me reassurance to continue my study, which started with word searches on the sun, moon, and stars.  I was brought to the Book of Joel, where the prophet foretells Christ’s physical return to earth (which is not to be confused with the rapture, when he will meet believers in the clouds as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-1):

For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. 15The sun and moon will be darkened,
 and the stars no longer shine. 16The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel. (Joel 3:15, emphasis mine)

I used NASA's solar eclipse website to determine when the next total solar eclipses will occur.  One will happen on August 21, 2017.  Using Vito Technology’s amazing Star Walk app, I could see that the moon will also cover the star Regulus in the constellation Leo.  

Regulus, which is one of the brightest stars, is called the “King Star.”  It is actually a multiple star system.  An astronomer from Cornell University's "Ask an Astronomer" website explained that during this particular solar eclipse, Regulus will not be visible because it will be up during the day and very close to the sun.  Also, if the moon passes in front of any star, the star will not only get dimmer, but become invisible until it reappears from behind the moon.

This celestial event appeared to match Joel 3:15 exactly!  

Unfortunately, it does not line up with Daniel’s prophecy about the 70^th week, the seven-year period that I believe will begin with the rapture. During this time, the antichrist will be revealed and there will be “peace and prosperity” for 3½ years.  But those left behind will suffer the tribulation horrors for the remaining 3½ years, until Christ Jesus triumphantly returns to earth, binds Satan (Revelation 20:1-3), and establishes His millennial kingdom (if you have not accepted Jesus as your Savior, I pray you will do so because time is running out).

Then last week, I read "Signs of the Times," an interesting article by Jerusalem-based journalist David Dolan.  He writes about tetrads (four consecutive full lunar eclipses) and their connection to Biblical feasts.  Tetrads are quite rare, however, several have occurred in the last 70 years, which Dolan connects to pivotal events with Israel.  He also writes that an upcoming cycle will occur on the first evening of Passover over the next two years and also on the first night of the Feast of Tabernacles.  This will be the last tetrad occurring on Biblical feasts until the end of this century. 

Dolan questions whether the rapture might be tied to one of these dates, which immediately renewed my interest in stargazing.  While a total lunar eclipse will occur on April 15, 2014, the actual date of the next Passover is April 14, 2014 (in the Jewish calendar, holidays begin at sunset on the previous day).  The 4/14/14 date is interesting.  A multiple of 7, the number 14 can imply a double measure of spiritual perfection.  It also represents deliverance or salvation.

Passover commemorates events in Exodus — when the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt — and the 10^th plague; the death of every Egyptian first-born child.  The Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of their houses with the blood of a slaughtered spring lamb (a type of the cross and the crucifixion) so the spirit of the Lord would pass over their homes.  This also appears to be a type of the rapture.

If the rapture did occur on the eve of April 14, 2014, do the sun, moon, and stars reveal anything else?  

I will save that discussion for next time.

The Return of the Jewish Messiah

I am Jewish by birth and attended Sunday school at a synagogue until I was a teenager.  But it wasn’t until many years after becoming a believer that I learned that Jesus was Jewish.  This knowledge was the beginning of an incredible journey to understand His (and my) Hebrew roots.

I often wondered why the Jewish leaders did not recognize Jesus as their Messiah.  They dutifully and rigorously studied the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), most likely on a daily basis.  They knew about the writings of the prophets (while there was no collection of these books yet, the various texts were read as separate scrolls).¹  So how could they have missed it?

Believers today are fortunate to have knowledge from both the Old and New Testaments.  We can look back and clearly see how Jesus fulfilled Scriptural prophecies during His first advent on earth.  We have the advantage of having the full picture and of knowing exactly what we are looking for. 

The Jewish people were looking for Christ too, but I think their preconceived beliefs about who the Messiah was — and the role He would play — kept them from seeing the entire story.  When you explore both early and later Jewish beliefs, however, the parallels are amazing.

The Jewish people held the belief that there would be a future Messianic period, which would bring salvation to the Jewish people and to the whole world.  Their hope was for a future king who would redeem Israel and establish the kingdom of God on earth.²

In apocalyptic literature of the last two centuries B.C.E., the Messiah is described as a powerful warrior and ruler.  He was also described as a supernatural being who existed from the beginning of days and was close to God; designated as the “son of man” or as “My son.”  He is also sometimes described as an angelic being whose existence antedated the creation of the world, just waiting for the right time to reveal Himself and assume His seat of glory.  At that time He will dispense justice to all the inhabitants of the earth.²

The Jewish people also had a double concept of the Messiah: One Messiah was the son of Joseph, and another Messiah was the son of David.  They came to associate the figure of their Messiah with King David or a descendant of King David.  This idealized version of the Messiah fueled their expectation of a mighty warrior and king — and they were correct — but this will not be fulfilled until Christ Jesus’ second advent. 

When Jesus read from Isaiah 61:1-2 in the synagogue at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-21) he stopped at the comma in the middle of passage:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,

The Jewish leaders had no idea that the remaining part of that passage (and the day of vengeance of our God;) would be fulfilled at a future time. 

The idea of a Messiah’s supernatural birth, earthly suffering, and death to atone for sin and bring salvation to those who believe in Him was inconceivable to many Jews during the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry.  It is not so surprising when you consider that even those who were closest to him — his disciples — did not fully understand this for themselves until Jesus appeared to them after He was crucified.  

Jesus’ resurrection was certainly beyond the realm of understanding of the Sadducees, who did not believe in resurrection.  It was also beyond their level of comprehension that a Messiah could come first as a suffering servant, be raised from the dead, and return to earth once again as king.

The Jewish people looked to the Messianic era (yemoth hamashiah, which literally means “days of the Messiah”) as a period of redemption to be ushered in and ruled over by the Messiah.  It is a time that marks the return of the people of Israel to the land of Israel. 

Interestingly, the “days of the Messiah” are different from the “world to come,” which will usher in resurrection and the judgment and the reign of God.   Later Jewish writings suggest that the Messianic era was postponed due to sin and will be preceded by social and political problems, extreme poverty, heresy, and wars, including the wars of Gog and Magog.  Jewish writers during the Middle Ages pointed to a new Jerusalem and a time of perfection.²

A more contemporary parallel to what we see with “kingdom now” believers is a platform that was established by American rabbis in 1937.  They stated that their historical task is to “cooperate with all men in the establishment of the Kingdom of God, of universal brotherhood, justice, truth and peace on earth.”² 

Issac Landman, an American reformed rabbi, educator, and prolific author who lived from 1880 to 1946 and edited the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, wrote that “The hope for a future king who will redeem Israel and establish the kingdom of God upon earth is not expressly found either in the Biblical or in the Apocryphal writings.”  

Believers know that there are Bible passages that speak to Jesus’ return to earth as King and reigning upon David’s throne (Isaiah 9:6-7, Luke 1:31-33, Psalms 132:11, the tenth chapter of Zechariah, and the eleventh chapter of Romans, to name a few).  But we have the power of the Holy Spirit, which reveals to us the mysteries of the Kingdom within Scripture.

It is impossible for unbelievers to understand these mysteries (some believers are blind to them as well).  God opened my eyes when I asked Him to show me that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and our future King.  If you happen to be of the Jewish faith, I pray that you will ask God to open your eyes too. 

 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Matthew 7:7)

1. Jones, Barry A (2000). "Canon of the Old Testament." David Noel Freedman. Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. Eerdmans.

2.  The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia.  Isaac Landman, Ed.

Ears to Hear

I was listening to an audio version of Leviticus 14 today and was struck by verse 17:

 And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering.

Leviticus is rich with symbolism and this passage made me wonder about the symbolism of the ear.  Walter W. Wilson writes that the ear is a type concerning the consecrated hearing of the believer.  An ear that is touched by oil now only hears God’s Word and is to refuse the call of all other leaders.  In his commentary, David Guzik states that the right ear was chosen because that side was considered to be superior and have more strength and skill.  Most people were right-handed and God wanted their best to be dedicated to him.

I believe it is Pastor Royce Powell who says that whenever Scripture uses the phrase “ears to hear” we need to listen carefully.  The first use of this expression is in Deuteronomy 29:1-4 (emphasis is mine).

 ¹These are the words of the covenant, which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.  ²And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land;  ³The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles:  ⁴Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. 

Jesus uses a phrase similar to “he who hath ears to hear, let him hear” three times in Matthew, three times in Mark, and twice in Luke.  Most of the time, He is speaking in parables.  When the disciples asked Him why He spoke in parables, He replied:

Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.  ¹²For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.  ¹³Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.  ¹⁴And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:  ¹⁵For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.  ¹⁶But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. (Matthew 13:11-16)

When Jesus first came to offer His Kingdom, Israel shut up their ears, which is prophesied in Ezekiel 12:1-2:

 

 ¹The word of the LORD also came unto me, saying,  ²Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house. 

Unless believers have eyes to see and ears to hear, I fear that history will repeat itself when Jesus appears a second time.

Will Jesus Find Faith When He Returns?

Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8)

How can this be?  There are churches everywhere, many with thousands of believers in their congregations.  Preachers on television are reaching millions of people worldwide.  Walk into a mainstream bookstore and you will see multiple shelves of books under the section “Religion — Christianity.”  

So what is this lack of faith Jesus is talking about? 

Jesus cannot be speaking of faith that He is our Lord and Saviour because more and more people are professing this every day.  I believe that Jesus is talking about having faith that He will return to earth again, this time as our King when He establishes His Millennial Kingdom.

“We are not to concern ourselves with the day or the hour,” “Why study prophecy when we have so much to accomplish here and now?”, and “His kingdom is already here in the hearts of believers” are just a few objections you may hear if you ask the question: “Why do we hear so little about the second coming of Christ from the pulpit?”

Jesus scolded the Pharisees and the Sadducees because they should have known that He was their Messiah based upon their knowledge of Scripture:

O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times? (Matthew 16:3)

Will Jesus rebuke Christians in the same way when He returns?  Unlike the Pharisees and the Sadducees we have all of Scripture to study, which refers to Christ’s Second Advent more times than His first (some write that there are 2,400 such verses, eight times more than the verses that point to Jesus’ First Advent).

Here are just a handful of the many verses in the New Testament that make His second coming — and His purpose for coming — crystal clear:

• For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. (Matthew 16:27)
• Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. (1 Corinthians 4:5)
• ²³But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.  ²⁴Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. (1 Corinthians 15:23-24)
• ¹I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;  ²Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. (2 Timothy 4:1-2)
• To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:13)
• And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
• Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:8)
• So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:28)
• ¹⁴And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,  ¹⁵To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 1:14-15)
• Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. (Revelation 1:7)
• Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. (Revelation 16:15)
• And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (Revelation 22:12)

 And lest we forget the last verse of Scripture:

²⁰He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.  ²¹The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. (Revelation 22:20-21)

Jesus has promised to return — a truth that is our blessed hope!  We also need to prepare ourselves for His final judgment.  If man tells you otherwise, I pray that you will put your faith in Him.

Quoteworthy: The Second Coming of Christ

The Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ is One Event Most Often Recorded in Holy Scripture.

IT is recorded in type, in figure, in symbol, in analogue, in parable, in hyperbole and metaphor, in exalted song, in noblest poetry and in rarest rhetoric.  It is set before us in dramatic and dynamic statement, in high prophetic forecast, in simple narrative, close linked logic, expanded doctrine, divine exhortation and farreaching appeal.

The first promise of the Second Coming was made in Eden.  It was made in the promise given to the woman that her seed should bruise the serpent's head.  On the cross the serpent bruised the heel of the woman's seed, but her seed did not bruise the serpent's head.  Never was his head more uplifted and unbruised than now.  The promise of the bruising is of God and must be fulfilled.  The record of that fulfillment is to be be found in the twentieth chapter of the book of the Revelation where our Lord descends and in the plenitude of His power by the hand of an angel binds Satan for a thousand years beneath His feet and the feet of His saints.  As the bruising of the serpent's head takes place at the Second Coming, and the promise of the bruising is made in Eden, then the first promise of the Coming is made in Eden; and as you see rising above the figure of the fallen first man the figure of the Second man, you hear for the first time the story of the Second Coming of the Second man; and thus the story and the doctrine of the Second Coming begin with the very beginning of the Book.

Isaac Massey Haldeman in Why I preach the second coming.  Published in 1919.

Jesus Provides the Signs of His Return

My pulse quickens when I read the words of men who love and study Scripture, and write passionately about our blessed hope, which is the return of our Lord. These writers that I speak of may be hard to find in mainstream bookstores because they penned their tomes more than 150 years ago (in fact, I did a Google search on “bestselling Christian books” and could not find one book about His second coming).

Fortunately, many of these wonderful books are now available in the public domain, and a lot of them can be downloaded for free to your computer or ebook reader, thanks to Google Books. 

At the moment, I am reading G.H. Pember’s book, "The Great Prophecies Concerning the Gentiles, the Jews, and the Church of God,” and I was struck by his statement that the signs of Jesus’ first coming are not as fully depicted in Scripture as those of His second.

That inspired me to run to the gospels to see what Jesus says about His second coming. I found at least 25 passages where Jesus either refers to His return in the clouds during the rapture (when believers will be gathered up to meet Him in the air) or the second advent, when He will come in the clouds again, but this time will physically stand on the earth and rule and reign with His bride when He establishes His millennial kingdom. 

What are these signs that Jesus speaks of?  Here are few:

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24:27)

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory . (Matthew 24:30)

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors . (Matthew 24:32-33) 

But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (Matthew 24:37-39) 

Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. (Matthew 26:64) 

But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. (Mark 13:24-27) 

And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.  (Luke 17:26-30) 

In Luke 12:56, Jesus says, “Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?”

Jesus was talking about His first advent in that passage, but if He were to return today, I believe He might have a similar rebuke for many professed believers. This should not be a surprise for Scripture hints that the remnant of believers who are eagerly watching for His return will be very small, based on what Jesus says in Luke 18:8:

“However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”